Kickstarter Project Forms a Band Through YouTube

YouTube has become a vital platform for emerging musicians, supporting and amplifying talented individuals more than they might have been along traditional routes of the music industry.

Musician Cobus Potgieter has received more than 100 million views on YouTube by playing the drums along to other popular songs.

Potgieter launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to bring a whole band together through YouTube. Other musicians can audition by downloading an extension pack and submitting their demos through YouTube.

The campaign started with an initial goal of $35,000, which would fly the band members to Los Angeles for a few weeks to write and record an album. The rest of the money would go towards distribution and filming a video that documents the entire process.

Within five days, the project has already raised more than $41,000.

According to Potgieter, the project shows that social media enables talent without the assistance of professional record companies.

“I think that the size of this project is possibly miles above anything any independent musician has ever tried, and that makes this the most intimidatingly big idea I have ever had,” Potgieter writes on his Kickstarter page. “I've had this idea for so long, and I am more excited and passionate about this than I have been about almost anything else.”

The genre of the band is still undetermined. Potgieter is keeping his options open and seeing who auditions before deciding what to make of it.

So far, the project has seen 10 auditions a day. Potgieter will review all auditions and then narrow the list down to a group of finalists. Using Google+ Hangouts, Potgieter will get to know the group and perform jam sessions. If they forge a connection, Potgieter will fly the individual to Los Angeles to be part of the band. There is no limit on how many will be in the band.

Submissions are only available to US residents (to keep flight costs down), but Potgieter hopes the project will be successful enough that he can attempt to bring a worldwide band together in the future. If the current project reaches $75,000, the auditions will open internationally.

Mashable is the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.